''Daily Hive'', formerly known as ''Vancity Buzz'', is a Canadian

online newspaper An online newspaper (or electronic news or electronic news publication) is the electronic publishing, online version of a newspaper, either as a stand-alone publication or as the online version of a printed periodical literature, periodical. Goin ...

based in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

, British Columbia. It began digital publishing in 2008 and became

Western Canada Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces, Canadian West, or Western provinces of Canada, and commonly known within Canada as the West, is a list of regions of Canada, Canadian region that includes the four western provinces and t ...

's largest online-only publication by 2016. In September 2022, ZoomerMedia announced a deal to acquire ''Daily Hive'' for $16.4 million.

History

The site began its publishing in 2008 under the name ''Vancity Buzz'' and was founded by Manny Bahia and Karm Sumal. The name was changed to ''Daily Hive'' in 2016 when the company expanded nationally. Concurrently with its rebranding as ''Daily Hive'', the publication expanded to

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

and

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

. In November 2017, ''Daily Hive'' deleted many of their posts on their official

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account as a form of viral marketing, inspired by

Taylor Swift Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Known for her autobiographical songwriting, artistic versatility, and Cultural impact of Taylor Swift, cultural impact, Swift is one of the Best selling artists, w ...

's similar

publicity stunt In marketing, a publicity stunt is a planned event designed to attract the public's attention to the event's organizers or their cause. Publicity stunts can be professionally organized, or set up by amateurs. Such events are frequently utiliz ...

earlier in the year. They then posted images of the word "Nude". This stunt caused growth in their social media presence and gained them more followers than before.

ID Agency

In 2018, ''Daily Hive'' launched ID Agency, an in-house influencer marketing agency operating out of their Vancouver office.

Acquisitions

In 2018, ''Daily Hive'' acquired Colony Digital, a full-service creative agency based in Vancouver. In February 2019, ''Daily Hive'' acquired ''Torontoist'', a long-running web publication that formerly offered similar coverage of Toronto. Originally established in 2004 as part of the ''

Gothamist ''Gothamist'' is a New York City–centric blog operated by New York Public Radio. From 2003 to 2018, Gothamist LLC was the operator, or in some cases franchisor, of eight city-centric websites that focused on news, events, food, culture, an ...

'' network of city-specific news websites, ''Torontoist'' was a property of St. Joseph Media from 2011 until its acquisition by ''Daily Hive''. It no longer publishes original content as a separate entity from ''Daily Hive''.

Expansion into the United States

In 2019, ''Daily Hive'' made their first international expansion into the US market, opening channels in both

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

and Portland.

Criticisms and controversies

Prior to its 2016

rebranding Rebranding is a marketing strategy in which a new name, term, symbol, design, concept or combination thereof is created for an established brand with the intention of developing a new, differentiated identity in the minds of consumers, investors ...

as ''Daily Hive'', the ''Vancity Buzz'' site was the subject of numerous criticisms and controversies. Notable accusations included unethical journalism practices,

plagiarism Plagiarism is the representation of another person's language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions as one's own original work.From the 1995 ''Random House Dictionary of the English Language, Random House Compact Unabridged Dictionary'': use or close ...

, and

fearmongering Fearmongering, or scaremongering, is the act of exploiting feelings of fear by using exaggerated rumors of impending danger, usually for personal gain. Theory According to evolutionary anthropology and evolutionary biology, humans have a strong ...

. In 2016, former Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson accused ''Vancity Buzz'' of starting a media frenzy when the site published photos of three British tourists that were described as suspicious and "Middle Eastern" in an internal Vancouver Police bulletin. Robertson later apologized to the three on behalf of the city. In 2018, former ''Vancity Buzz'' contributor Bartosz Bos sued the organization, alleging that he was owed more than $18,000 in back pay for work done in 2013 that was never compensated. ''Vancity Buzz'' was ordered by court to pay Bos $1,000 for "coming unprepared for trial" at a 2020 hearing during the suit.

Brands

* DH News – News * Dished – Food * Urbanized – Real estate, architecture, urban Design, transportation, and urban issues * Venture – Technology and business * Offside – Sports * Listed – Events * Mapped – Travel * Colony Digital – Digital marketing agency * ID Agency – Influencer agency

References

External links

* {{ZoomerMedia 2008 establishments in British Columbia Canadian news websites Newspapers published in Vancouver Newspapers established in 2008